Hello from Kuwait, as I’m currently in the middle of a review trip! I just flew Kuwait Airways’ Airbus A330-200 first class on the 2hr10min flight from Cairo (CAI) to Kuwait City (KWI).
Ultimately this is just the “appetizer” of my Kuwait Airways first class experience, since I’ll be connecting to the carrier’s Boeing 777-300ER first class on a longer flight. But still, I was curious to experience Kuwait Airways’ first class on a shorter flight as well.
So, how was the experience? It wasn’t bad, but it also didn’t feel very first class. Furthermore, the service was just “meh,” aside from the very nice Kuwaiti gentleman working the cabin. While I’ll have a full trip report soon, in this post I wanted to share some initial impressions of the experience.
In this post:
Kuwait Airways’ A330 first class cabin makes no sense
I can’t make sense of Kuwait Airways’ A330-200 cabin configuration, and choice of first class product. The plane has 17 first class seats, which is a massive cabin, as it’s in addition to the 30 business class seats behind it. The thing is, Kuwait Airways’ A330 first class hard product is worse than what you’d expect from a decent business class nowadays.
The airline has reverse herringbone seats, and they feel particularly tight, given the A330’s narrow fuselage. That wasn’t an issue on such a short daytime flight, but it would be less pleasant on a longer flight where you wanted to sleep (and the plane operates some longer routes too).
It’s kind of wild that this plane was only delivered in 2015, and this is the first class product the airline decided to install. Fortunately the airline is heading in the right direction — Kuwait Airways’ new A330-800neos have modern reverse herringbone seats in business class, and no first class. So in terms of hard product, the A330-800neo business class is better than the A330-200 first class.
Kuwait Airways’ first class catering is forgettable
There didn’t seem to be all that much differentiation in terms of service between first and business class. Perhaps the nicest aspect of the experience was the pre-departure Arabic coffee and selection of sweets. Oddly, there were no other pre-departure drinks offered.
Then after takeoff, lunch was served. The meal was decent, but not necessarily better than what you’d expect in business class. There was no choice of appetizer, and it consisted of chicken and spinach roulade with sweet potatoes. Then there were two main course options, served in casserole dishes. I chose the grilled chicken with caramelized carrot. Frankly the chicken in both dishes was quite chewy.
Perhaps the best part of the meal was the focaccia in the bread basket, as well as the dark chocolate cake.
Kuwait Airways is a dry airline, so while many airlines differentiate themselves with alcohol selection, that’s not at play here. At least the lemon mint juice was tasty.
Kuwait Airways’ interesting crewing & service
Different Gulf carriers take different approaches when it comes to the types of flights attendants they’ll hire (whether any locals work at the airline, and the distribution of male and female flight attendants).
The last time I flew with Kuwait Airways (admittedly many years ago), the crew consisted of Kuwaiti men and foreign women. On this flight, there was a single Kuwaiti guy (at least that I saw), and both foreign men and women (mostly from the Philippines and North Africa).
The Kuwait guy was lovely — he was so genuinely hospitable, and a great ambassador for the airline and country. Meanwhile the rest of the crew was significantly less warm. It’s not that they were rude, they just weren’t very attentive, and also weren’t overly friendly.
On the Gulf carriers that have this kind of mixed staffing, it’s rare that you hope you’re served by one of the “locals,” but that’s exactly how I felt here.
Bottom line
Kuwait Airways is a pretty strange airline, and this A330 is the perfect example of that. The airline has a massive first class cabin on this jet, yet the seats aren’t even as good as business class on some of the carrier’s other jets. Unfortunately Kuwait Airways doesn’t differentiate its soft product that much either, at least on this regional flight.
I’m looking forward to experiencing Kuwait Airways “Royal Class” first class on the Boeing 777-300ER to Bangkok. Hopefully the longer flight and flagship aircraft makes for a better experience.
What’s your take on Kuwait Airways’ A330 first class?
KU definitely is a quite mediocre airline.
The hardware is ok (of course the entertainment system could be better). The FAs are mostly friendly but never really spread a warm, welcoming feeling or atmosphere. The food is what you'll find in the region and that probably is not liked by travellers not from here. Again, all very mediocre. I fly them regularly on a 2hr service for connecting to LH. Here we all know...
KU definitely is a quite mediocre airline.
The hardware is ok (of course the entertainment system could be better). The FAs are mostly friendly but never really spread a warm, welcoming feeling or atmosphere. The food is what you'll find in the region and that probably is not liked by travellers not from here. Again, all very mediocre. I fly them regularly on a 2hr service for connecting to LH. Here we all know that also LH is certainly not a top notch airline but certainly a lot better than KU. Half of the flights I take on KU are on wide bodies and there were hardly ever any pax in first class. I like their A330-800 - nice experience. I really dislike KWI, especially T1 is absolutely chaotic and also the process of connecting to T4 (which is a bit nicer) is crazy. Compared to DOH KWI is absolutely laughable.
I flew First Class 2 decades ago on the JFK-LHR route (no longer offered). It was definitely Last Class. Wouldn't take it again for free, in any Class.
As you said some Middle East carriers are amazing and some are less so...
NO alcohol = NO Kuwait Air
You do realize the non-Kuwaiti staff from third-world and second-world countries are basically indentured servants, right?
@ FNT Delta Diamond -- I'm curious what makes you say that? Do you think that specifically applies at Kuwait Airways, or at all Gulf carriers?
The slave mentality has been this way since I can remember from the 1970's. Perhaps with exception to Emirates airlines. The rest of the GCC countries treat them badly.
@ Eitan Gad -- There's no denying that not all Gulf carriers treat staff equally well (Emirates and Etihad are known for being the best). However, there's also no denying that the salaries that these flight attendants are getting are largely way higher than they could earn in their home country, and they're happy with the opportunities they have.
Flight attendants aren't like construction workers brought to the Middle East who have their passports held...
@ Eitan Gad -- There's no denying that not all Gulf carriers treat staff equally well (Emirates and Etihad are known for being the best). However, there's also no denying that the salaries that these flight attendants are getting are largely way higher than they could earn in their home country, and they're happy with the opportunities they have.
Flight attendants aren't like construction workers brought to the Middle East who have their passports held onto and who work in completely unsafe conditions. They have a much better situation than that, which is why I'm curious about the claim. I actually got the sense that flight attendants at Kuwait Airways are treated much better than at Saudia, for example -- there's less hierarchy between the locals and foreigners.
Was there an actual First lounge in CAI, or just the typical CAI lounge garbage?
I flew through Terminal 2 this last December twice. The Priority Pass Lounge (also the premium lounge for certain airlines), was actually pretty decent. It was a newer Lounge in the new Terminal. The lounge had a buffet of food, but it was pretty flavorful (nothing too fancy though). But the lounge decor was nice, and the lounge had amazing non alcoholic drinks (they even had glass bottled Schwepps Lemon Mint flavored sparkling water, which...
I flew through Terminal 2 this last December twice. The Priority Pass Lounge (also the premium lounge for certain airlines), was actually pretty decent. It was a newer Lounge in the new Terminal. The lounge had a buffet of food, but it was pretty flavorful (nothing too fancy though). But the lounge decor was nice, and the lounge had amazing non alcoholic drinks (they even had glass bottled Schwepps Lemon Mint flavored sparkling water, which is amazing!). The lounge also had those full body massage chairs for free throughout the lounge, which I fully took advantage of and almost missed my flight because of them.
@ Jerry -- Agree with @ W. There's no proper first class lounge, but by Cairo standards, it was quite good.
I wish that we could get the full review in one piece rather than stretching them out over two or more articles. Otherwise, love your reports!
@ T- -- I hear you, and appreciate the feedback. These trips are so fast moving that I couldn't publish the full trip reports on the spot (they take a lot of time to write), and I assume that people would rather follow along "live" a bit with a teaser, and then get the full thing when I return home.
I like this style of report, Ben. I am more likely to read these than full reports.
I flew Kuwait Airways First Class once from Kuwait to Mumbai on an A340 many years ago. It was a miserable experience. I was probably one of only 2 or 3 paid passengers in the cabin and the rest of the seats were taken up by the (male) crew who were loudly chatting and drinking tea.
When I spoke to one of them and asked them to please keep the volume down he said "you...
I flew Kuwait Airways First Class once from Kuwait to Mumbai on an A340 many years ago. It was a miserable experience. I was probably one of only 2 or 3 paid passengers in the cabin and the rest of the seats were taken up by the (male) crew who were loudly chatting and drinking tea.
When I spoke to one of them and asked them to please keep the volume down he said "you don't want we make trouble yes?" which could be interpreted either as a threat or a promise to be quiet. I'll give him benefit of the doubt for the latter as things were (marginally) more under control afterwards.
There was also someone smoking in the cockpit judging by the smell emnating when the door was opened, and generally a sense of going through the motions rather than any sort of interest in actually providing service.
It provided transport from A to B (and First Class was priced significantly less than Business Class on Emirates or Qatar Airways) so I'm not grumbling, but not high up on my list of preferred airlines either.
I have just the feeling KU just simply do not care for a better service in the First cabin. Just see the state of the catering and non existing amenities. Recent experiences from IST to BKK and MNL in their F cabin were simply said..basic and mediocre. Only the suite/hard product is standard. Hospitable FAs..well after a fashion.
Flights between Egypt and the gulf do not offer an elevated service. You can find better service and equipment on flights to Europe and the US than between Egypt and the gulf. The passengers are not looking for a premium service, but rather cheaper tickets on these routes
@ Andy -- You're absolutely right that Egypt is a low yield market, though for service purposes, it's treated like anywhere else in the region. Carriers like Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar, offer their full, standard service on these routes. You'd have the same experience on Kuwait Airways flying another route in the region.
So true. I worked in KSA for many years, and if travelling long haul to US or Asia, it was often cheaper to do the "Cairo Shuffle", and take an offline connection to CAI and book biz or 1st from there.
Looking at the details, this F seat is the exact same seat as Finnair's old A350 J seat.
I had no idea they had First Class on anything besides their 777-300ERs LOL. Looking forward to Part 2.
The reason for flying to BKK is positioning for Thai Airways? I remember their Manila flight is cheaper & longer, but having to then go Manila to Bangkok would definitely negate that
@ Willem -- Partly because it was easier positioning, and partly because a 2PM flight sounded more appealing to me than a 2AM flight.
What do the business class seats look like, if this is First?
@ Alex -- They're angled and in a 2-2-2 configuration.
For your own safety, I hope you waited until you were rolling down the runway leaving KWI before posting any less than stellar comment, given these countries have a penchant for not taking kindly to them
Not very first class? Not very surprising!
Well, if you have a Lufthansa feeder flight to an international First Class flight, you end up in essentially an economy seat with an empty middle seat and a generalcy tasty but simple meal. Compared to that, the service on the short Kuwait Airways flight looks quite decent.
@ InternationalTraveler -- You're absolutely right, of course this is better than an intra-Europe business class flight.
However, competitively Europe has the world's worst premium short haul product, while the Gulf region has the world's best short haul premium short haul product. Furthermore, Kuwait Airways actually sells first class specifically on this segment, which is different than within Europe, where it's only marketed as business class.